Will-isms

Getting three kids to three different schools in the morning requires precision timing.  It's important to take Will to school in time to get back to the house before Audra's bus leaves.  (To avoid making a trip to her school I check to make sure she has her backpack, computer, flute, and lunch.  Also, I just like to say goodbye before she gets on the bus.)  This morning  we I was rushing to get out the door as usual.  My kids inherited their dad's temperament with regard to time.  They don't hurry.  As I was saying "Let's go!" and rushing to make sure Will had his shoes, backpack, lunch and coat, he stopped me and said, "I bet I can set the record for the number of nose flares in one minute."  "Excuse me???"  "Look.  See how fast I can do it."
He doesn't see the flurry of activity.
He doesn't notice the time.
And he expects me to stop and watch him flare his nostrils.

Last week Will informed us that he is the second best-looking boy in the 4th grade at his school.
"Oh, who is the best looking boy?"
"Stokely."
"And who told you that you were the second best-looking boy?"
"Stokely."

(PS.  I changed the name above to protect the identity of the best-looking boy at school.  There is only one person I know who would name his son Stokely and he lives in Oklahoma.)

Boasting about weaknesses...

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me...When I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Do you know what your weaknesses are?  We don't like to think about our weaknesses, but they are there whether we see them or not.  Sometimes I see my weaknesses when I read about other people-- the busyness of Martha, the legalism of the Pharisees, the little faith of the disciples.  This week I saw myself in a man named Korah.  He was a leader among the Israelites when they were in the wilderness.  He become discontent and led a rebellion against Moses.

 "You (Moses)have gone too far!  The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the Lord, and he is with all of us.  What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the Lord's people?"

Now the Bible says that Moses was the most humble person EVER.  Even though God used him to lead millions of people and spoke with him directly, Moses stayed humble.  Moses was just doing the job God gave him to do.  He responded to Korah's attack by saying,

"Does it seem insignificant to you that God has chosen you from among all Israel to be near him so you can serve in the Lord's Tabernacle and stand before the people to minister to them?  Are you now demanding the Priesthood as well?"

God had given Korah a job to do--an important job--but he wasn't content with his assignment.  He had ideas about how other people should be doing what God told them to do.  He questioned the way they did things.  He wanted to be in charge.  Does that sound familiar to you?  It does to me.  God's response to Korah was to open up the earth and swallow him alive.  I do not want to be like Korah!
 
While I was confessing my critical spirit God answered,

My child, isn't it enough for you to have the ministry I gave you?  Do you have to be in charge of  the music, the scheduling, and the color of the carpet?  Does everything have to be done your way?  How do you know your way is the best way?  Didn't I create people to be unique--with different gifts, tastes, interests, and abilities?  Do you want people to conform to your image or to mine?  Rather than trying to get people to be more like you, you need to try to be more like me. 

(Well, maybe I embellished that a bit with what I thought He would say, but I'm pretty sure I heard Him correctly on the last part.)

I am weak and God knows it.  But he says that he works best through weak people.  He works best through people who know they are not perfect.  He works best through people who rely on his strength instead of their own.  God can deal with my weaknesses.  And if I acknowledge them before others, they will see that even though I am weak, the God in me is strong.

"Lord, conform me to your image.  Other people can't see my attitudes, but you can.  You are not content to judge my actions; you look at my heart.  Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  (Ps 139-23-24)

An ever present help in times of trouble...

O my people, trust in him at all times.  Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:8)

Today I am burdened by divorce, death, unplanned pregnancy, grief, depression, cancer, persecution, and financial problems... and those are just some of the people on my prayer list.  When I turn on the news I see war, destruction, homelessness, corruption, rape, and nuclear disaster.  And I wonder,  how am I to live in this "adulterous and sinful generation"?  How do I keep from being overwhelmed by what is going on around me?  Where do I run, when everything around me is falling apart?
Psalm 62 says, "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him."  My hope is not in some vague idea that "everything will turn out okay."  My hope is not in the government to fix everything.  I cannot trust in my bank account to sustain me.  The people around me may not always be there.  I may not always be healthy.
Leaning on those things (good thoughts, health, money, government, other people) is like leaning on a spider's web.  Such is the destiny of all who forget God... What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web.  He leans on it, but it does not hold. (Job 8:13-15)  If I lean on those things, I will fall.  So what can I trust in?
Trust in the Lord (Psalm 4:5)
Trust in God's unfailing love (Psalm 13:5)
Trust in his holy name (Psalm 33:21)
Trust in his word (Psalm 119:42)
Do not be afraid... for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. (Deut. 7:21)


(Lord, I am overwhelmed by the pain and suffering around me.  Where can I turn?  Only to you.)
He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus. (Rev. 22:20)

A God of Timing

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Here's another story by Susie Rain you need to read.  See how God was working, is working, and will continue to work in and through this man.


TOKYO—Excitement and happiness fill the air. Smiles and laughter abound. Tears of joy well up in some eyes.

More than a week after the onset of Japan’s triple disaster, everyone is ready for something to celebrate. The perfect opportunity for a small group of Japanese Christians comes in a double baptism.

When Shinichi Saito bobs up out of the water, everyone breaks out in applause. 

No one was sure this day would take place. The baptism was originally scheduled for March 12, but that didn’t happen because of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. 

Saito and his wife did not want to wait any longer so the baptism was rescheduled for the following week.

“It’s the only day I could do it,” Saito explains about the urgency he felt. “If we didn’t do it today, I don’t know if I could be spiritually prepared in my heart for all that my work duties demand in the midst of this disaster.”

Saito is a city councilman and works primarily in the volunteer office and with the physically disabled. The day of the earthquake, it was his job to find ways home for the physically disabled because there were no trains running or transport of any kind. Since the quake, his job has shifted to organizing volunteer efforts.

The councilman points out that God is a “God of timing.” Saito says it was providence that he happened to be rolling his wheelchair through the lobby of city hall a few months ago at the same time that a missionary was prayerwalking the building. Saito stopped to find out what the foreigner needed and from there a friendship blossomed that led to a Bible study, a church start and now two baptisms — all in just a few short months. 

Saito feels the timing of everything, including the baptism, has to do with God preparing him for his upcoming duties in this disaster.

“God has put me in a position to help people using resources that most do not have access to,” Saito says. “Now that I am part of the family of God, I have brothers and sisters to call on as volunteers.

“Without even thinking, I can trust the Christian volunteers,” he says, adding that trust and relationships are important in Japanese society. “I can do this because I sense that we are a family. Being a Christian isn’t just a job, we are actually a family, so there’s a level of trust that will help this country rebuild.”


You read yesterday about how the Japanese do not trust people they do not know.  Now you see how God put a Christian in charge of the volunteers in Tokyo. This man can call on other Christians to come in and help his country because he knows he can trust them.  They are family.

God's hands in Japan

Here's a story from Japan that I thought you should read.  If the Japanese people cannot trust in someone they can see, how can they trust in the One they can't see?

"Just 30 miles from Fukushima Daiichi’s troubled nuclear plant, anyone in the town of Soma, Japan who could evacuate did. But thousands still remain, squeezed into a high school gymnasium serving as a makeshift shelter. 

Children try to play but there’s not much room. Some people sit and stare off into the distance, in a state of shock. Others talk in low murmurs, reliving the horrors of the past two weeks.

Everyone wondered what was going on when an empty bus pulls up outside the shelter and a young, energetic Japanese man jumps out and bounds into the packed gym. The stench of 2,000 people living for days in a confined space startles Koji Imanishi, but it doesn’t deter him from his task — offering a free ride and a place to stay outside of the nuclear danger zone.

Six hundred people gather around the 30-year-old but instead of rushing to get on the bus, they drill him with questions — suspicious of his intentions. Why would a stranger risk his own health by driving into danger to rescue them? Why would anyone offer something for free?

“I am just following God’s leading,” Imanishi answers. “He teaches Christians to show His love.”

The young man assures the group the offer is totally free, no strings attached — all they have to do is get on the bus. After a lot of discussion, 31 people finally decide to board and relocate to Imanishi’s vacant company building just outside of Chiba, about 90 miles away.

The scene didn’t quite play out like Imanishi imagined when the idea first came to him. He envisioned an overflowing bus. But, as he explains, this is the “Japanese way.”

“People do not easily trust here,” he says. “They are suspicious until you create a relationship, even in times of crisis.”

Imanishi first found this shelter two days earlier, when an employee mentioned that some of his friends had not been able to evacuate. Imanishi’s heart ached for their suffering, so he jumped in his small car to rescue them.

The trip was arduous. Because he didn’t have the special government permits needed to travel the expressway, Imanishi drove the back roads, where gas and supplies are scarce.

“It is hard to describe the damage — it’s so massive, but the worst thing I saw was the state of the people,” Imanishi says. “There were thousands in one space. No room to move. It was so cold. 

“I felt in my heart that this was not a place of hope,” Imanishi continues. “I left that first day broken because I could only take three people in my small car.”

Imanishi spent the next day petitioning government offices to send evacuation buses to the shelter. He was told 4,000 people had already been relocated from the area. The needs throughout northeastern Japan are so great right now, he was told, the best thing for the people is to stay put. 

The answer did not satisfy Imanishi, so he prayed. He remembered the fear he felt after the earthquake and knew people in the shelter needed someone to share their pain and fear.

“I just decided to offer assistance by myself,” Imanishi says. “People don’t trust or think about the meaning of the Lord here in Japan. I’m a Christian and the nature of the Lord is to offer assistance and love. 

“I have no money, but I had no choice but to help,” he adds. “I just prayed, ‘Show me the way, Lord.’”

Members of Imanishi’s family and house church rallied to help pull the plan together. One person with government connections lined up permits to travel into the disaster zone. Another found a bus company. Others prepared the empty building for the evacuees. 

“I know it is not much, in the big picture of this situation,” Imanishi says. “But if we can help just one person and let him experience the love of the Lord, then we’ve done our part.”

Imanishi is asking Christians around the world to join his house church in praying that the Japanese will learn to trust in the "free gift" Jesus has to offer.  Pray also that supplies, food, blankets and water make it to the shelters throughout the disaster zone."

(Original article by Susie Rain, imb correspondent)

Have you received God's free gift of salvation?  All you have to do is trust in the one he sent (Jesus) and get on the bus.

Spring means...

Out with the old...

And in with the new...

If your son only wears one pair of shoes you need to check them every now and then for holes.  Don't wait until someone in their class asks them when they are going to get new shoes.  And if at all possible, make sure the new ones are purple because purple shoes are "sick".

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)

Spring has Sprung

The hillsides blossom with joy... (Psalm 65:32)

 When everything that’s new has bravely surfaced 
Teaching us to breathe 

And what was frozen through is newly purposed 

Turning all things green 

So it is with You 

And how You make me new 

With every season’s change 

And so it will be 

As You are re-creating me 

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Spring


(From the song "Every Season" by Nichole Nordeman)